New-business filings decline 3.6% in May

New-business filings in Orange County slipped 3.6 percent in May compared with a year earlier, to 2,681, reports the county Clerk-Recorder's Office.

That number of new-business filings was down by 0.6 percent from April. The filings, popularly called DBAs (“doing business as”), have steadily declined in recent years even as the economy has slowly recovered. Businesses must file with the county when they open, change ownership or move to a new location. Most filings are for new businesses.

For the past 12 months, the Clerk-Recorder's Office recorded 29,499 new-business filings, 10.8 percent fewer than the June 2011-May 2012 period.